Civic Groups Team Up to Register Voters at SA Pride Events

Members of Move San Antonio registered voters ahead the recent municipal election. They will join the Stonewall Democrats, the League of Women Voters and Battleground Texas to register voters at Pride events on July 1. (Photo: Facebook/MoveSanAntonio)

The Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio have organized a group of over 45 volunteers from four local civic organizations to register voters during the Pride Bigger Than Texas Festival and Parade on Saturday, July 1.

In an email to volunteers, Kristian Carranza Thompson of Battleground Texas quoted newly-elected San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who told the San Antonio Current, “We must unite the community to prevent bad laws from being signed at the capitol during the special session. Whether that’s individually testifying against a bill, local business outreach . . . whatever we have to do. Discriminatory legislation is bad legislation.”

“In order to elect representatives likes Ron Nirenberg who vote in favor of pro-LGBTQ city policy, we need to register voters. Texas is not a red state, it’s a non-voting state — and there is an ocean of people who need to register to vote and learn about the issues that affect them everyday,” Thompson wrote in the email.

To be eligible to vote in Bexar County, you must:

Be a U.S. citizen.

Be 18 years old by election day.

Be a resident of Bexar County.

Not be a convicted felon, unless your sentence is complete (including any probation or parole).

Not be declared mentally incapacitated by a court of law.

Chris Forbrich, co-chair of the Stonewall Democrats, told Out In SA he was impressed by the LGBT community’s political engagement during the city’s recent municipal election. He added that political power is only achieved when everyone votes and the first step is voter registration.